Ethan arrived in time to hear Joel curse before opening the driver’s-side door and crouching beside Polly. The woman was hunched over the wheel, unmoving.
Joel touched her pulse. “She’s alive.”
More people pulled up on the street. Ryan. Connor. Zac. His entire team was here.
Zac helped Joel with Polly as Ethan’s gaze caught on something inside the car.
A folded piece of paper on the dashboard.
He moved to the passenger side and grabbed it, quickly scanning the writing.
Polly, I’m so sorry for Tasering you, but I knew if I didn’t, you wouldn’t let me leave. You wouldn’t let me do what I need to do. This town, my aunt, it’s suffocating me. Thank you for being a good friend. Maggie.
He studied the handwriting. At first glance, it looked like Maggie’s. But it also didn’t. The letters weren’t quite as smooth. Like someone had written this too slowly. Too carefully. Maybe with a slight shake in their fingers.
“She was Tasered,” Ethan called to the guys.
“Then knocked out.” Joel lifted Polly against his chest. “I’m taking her to the hospital.”
“I’ll come with you,” Zac said.
Joel and Zac rushed to his truck, while Ethan raced up the path to Lilith’s house, Ryan and Connor not far behind.
He banged on the door, patience so fucking low he didn’t stop knocking until the door opened.
“Ethan.” Lilith’s fingers were white around the doorframe. “What is the meaning of this?”
“I need to see your camera footage.”
Lilith’s head reared back. “Excuse me?”
“Maggie’s gone. She was taken outside your home.”
Lilith gasped, hand going to her chest. “Taken?”
“The footage, Lilith!”
She jumped at the volume of Ethan’s voice, then scrambled around, grabbing her cell from the side table and tapping a few things on the screen.
“I don’t know why you think she could have been kidnapped from outside my house. It’s not even a possi—” She stopped, eyes widening. “Oh my gosh.”
Ethan grabbed the phone from her fingers. The guys watched over his shoulder as he went back a bit in the footage. That’s when he saw it. Nel leaned into Polly’s car, a Taser in hand. A second later, Maggie approached. The two collided before Maggie helped her with her things on the ground.
He wanted to leap into the fucking camera and go back in time. Protect Maggie.
But he couldn’t. Instead, his nightmare played out in front of him as Nel pointed a gun at Maggie.
One of the guys cursed behind him. Ethan didn’t make a sound. All he could do was watch as the woman he loved was taken.
“Nel has her.” Ethan whispered the words out loud, as if he needed to hear them to help him believe it. “We have to find her before Nel hurts her.” Because she would. She’d escalated so severely that there was no coming back from this point.
31
Something hard jabbed Maggie in the shoulder. She groaned and tried to move, only to stop. She was bound. Her hands were behind her, and she couldn’t pull them apart. And it wasn’t just her shoulder that hurt. Her head throbbed.
“Get up, Maggie.”
The familiar voice had all the fine hairs on the back of her neck standing up.
